Giant thinking mushrooms of the Paleozoic.
Prototaxites– this creation haunted the scientific community for more than a hundred and fifty years. It did not belong to any biological kingdom. Huge organic living pillars towering in the middle of the Paleozoic swamps excited the scientific consciousness of specialists - paleontologists. But only modern research allow you to identify it giant creature the most ancient past of the Earth.
In 1859, the American scientist J. Dawson first produced scientific description this organic being. He first identified the fossils as impressions of rotten wood, somewhat similar to modern Yews (Taxus), and therefore gave the fossils the name Prototaxites. But the discovered fossils date back to the period 420 - 350 million years ago, and it was still very far from modern Yews in the geological history of the Earth.
Later, in late XIX century, experts began to identify this creature as seaweed, to be more precise - brown seaweed. This opinion became prevalent and was included in scientific classification sources. However, imagine an algae, or rather - a tangled colony of algae, height of six meters(and sometimes 9 meters) - very difficult. Moreover, sections of fossils were completely different from similar sections of trees. Yes, and in general, this creature was not at all like trees. Peculiar rings on cuts - actually were, however, these are not the growth rings of modern trees.
The most important thing is that in those distant timesPrototaxiteswas the largest organism on land. Vertebrates had just begun to appear and therefore Wingless insects, ancient centipedes and worms swarmed around the giant living pillar.
The very first vascular plants. Which are the ancestors of coniferous and fern plants - appeared 40 million earlier than Prototaxites, but their size was very modest - no more than a meter from the ground.
The size classes of the discovered Prototaxites were as follows: Saudi Arabia a sample was discovered 5.4 meters long, with a diameter of 1.38 m (at the base) and 1.04 m at the end. In the USA, in the state of New Mexico, a trunk was discovered, 8.84 meters long with a diameter of 35 cm at the base and 21 cm at the other end. The discoverer, Dawson, who described a specimen of Prototaxites from Canada, recorded a length of 2.15 meters and a maximum diameter of almost a meter (91 cm).
It should be noted very important point internal structure Prototaxites – this creature does not have plant-like cells, but it has a network of very thin capillaries (tubes) with extremely small diameter– from 2 to 50 micrometers.
Modern scientists, based on the conclusions of many years scientific research this amazing creature proposed new versions. Thus, Francis Hueber from the American Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) argues that Prototaxites is a spore-seeding body giant mushroom. Other museum employees are inclined to think that this is a huge lichen and this version is supported quite convincingly by Marc – Andre Selosse from the National University of Montpellier (Universite de Montpellierll).
The most courageous supporter of the mushroom version is Charles Kevin Boyes from the University of Chicago. In his scientific practice, he created several fundamental works devoted to a detailed study of the mysterious Prototaxites. Boyce never ceases to be amazed by this creature.“You can put forward different hypotheses and arguments, but regardless of this, the fact remains that we are faced with something completely crazy,” says the specialist, “ a mushroom 9 meters tall makes absolutely no sense. None of the existing ones, or even the ancient ones seaweed is not 20 feet tall. But she is, and it’s absolutely amazing, here it is, a fossil - in front of you.”
And just recently, Francis Huber completed his fundamental, titanic work: he found and collected, many specimens of Prototaxites from different countries, studied in detail hundreds of microscopic sections; took thousands of high-precision photographs. And here is the analysis internal structure showed this creature - It's still a mushroom. However, the scientist did not find a characteristic reproductive structure, which would clearly and without any doubt prove to everyone that this is indeed a mushroom (and this fact somewhat gives confidence to Huber’s opponents from "lichen countries").
Recently published in the journal Geology, a paper by Huber, Beuys and their colleagues analyzed the carbon isotope ratios of discovered Prototaxites fossils and paleontological finds of other plants from the same period. The discovered differences clearly indicate that the Super Mushroom is definitely not a plant. The results of the analysis indicate that Prototaxites was a heterotrophic organism that lived on an abundant substrate rich in numerous isotopes.
To put it simply, all plants get the carbon they need from the air (carbon dioxide), and fungi obtain carbon from the soil. Therefore, all plants from the same era will show the same isotope ratio (since the atmospheric environment is the same), but mushrooms will not, since it depends on the place where they grow (that is, dependence on diet). That is why scientists can recreate different ecosystems of this mysterious creature. And a discovery awaited specialists: some representatives of Prototaxites “ate” other plants. Other representatives of Prototaxites used various microbial communities Paleozoic soil. Third - occupied nutrients huge mosses.
This is an amazing giant world.
However, the mystery of the reasons remains gigantic growth Paleozoic mushroom. Karol Hotton of the Smithsonian Museum discusses this topic: “The enormous size of this fungus allowed it to disperse its spores over enormous distances around the numerous scattered prehistoric swamps that were very chaotically scattered across the Paleozoic landscape.”
However, scientists are not yet able to unambiguously answer the question about the reasons for the huge size. The main assumption is the absence of natural predators, which allowed this creature to grow extremely slowly but freely to such incredible sizes.
But the most interesting fact from the life of fungal organisms was noted by Japanese scientists. Professor Toshiyuki Nakagaki from Hokkaido University, took several samples of yellow moldy mushrooms and placed them at the entrance to an intricate labyrinth that will be used in science to test the intellectual abilities of small rodents. The scientist placed a small piece of sugar at the other end of the maze.
Phusarum polycephalum instantly (as if sensing the smell of sugar) began to send out its sprouts to detect edibles. Cobwebs - scouts bifurcated at each intersection of the labyrinth and when an obstacle appeared - a dead end, the webs turned around and rushed to search in other directions. And within a few hours - mushroom - scout literally filled all the passages of the complex labyrinth and by the end of the day Still, one cobweb found its way to the sugar.
But the most unexpected news awaited the scientists the next day - a group of researchers took a piece of the mushroom that participated in the first experiment and also placed it at the beginning of the same maze, and sugar at the other end. Immediately the webs forked in two; without mistakes, without a single extra turn - cobwebs - scouts identified the path to sugar. But there was another amazing fact- one of the webs of the mushroom climbed up the wall of the labyrinth and crossed the entire labyrinth at the top, directly to the goal. That is, the mushroom web not only remembered the path to the goal, but she was also able to change the circumstances (“the rules of the game”).
Through the prism of the above, it should be noted: the kingdom of mushrooms is one of the most conservative, not subject to grandiose evolutionary leaps. That is, the basic elements (features) of the organization and internal structure of ancient fungal communities are very, very similar to modern representatives. That is, Prototaxites, the giant Paleozoic mushroom, was quite capable of showing signs of organizing the modern kingdom of fungi.
Researchers mushroom kingdom pay attention to several unique features:
Firstly, fungal organisms are much closer to the animal kingdom than it seems at first glance.
Secondly, their actions are very similar to the results of an absolutely conscious choice.
Toshiyuki's newest research has shown that mushrooms are able to freely plan transport routes much faster and more efficiently than professional engineers. The scientist took a map of Japan and placed it on big cities lumps of sugar. He placed the mushrooms themselves on Tokyo. And after 23 hours mushrooms built a linear structural network absolutely to all pieces of sugar. And as a result, it was practically formed exact copy rail network systems around Tokyo. It's not difficult to connect several dots, but connect them in the most optimal way and effective way - this is a very difficult matter.
The Mushroom Kingdom is a gigantic mysterious formation on the planet that has an extremely distant past and is almost unexplored in the present. Only according to the most conservative estimates, there are about 160 thousand mushrooms on our planet, most of which have very, very impressive abilities.
For example, even in Chernobyl they found a mushroom that adapted to feed on radioactive objects, and besides this, It also purifies the air around you. This mushroom was discovered on the wall of a destroyed nuclear power plant, which still emits a radioactive background that does not allow life to develop tens of kilometers around.
In the rainforests of the Amazon, two Yale University students discovered the fungus Pestakotiopsis microspora, which amazingly It can even decompose plastic. This mushroom literally ate the plastic cup in which it was grown. Until now, neither our science nor our technologies are capable of such things.
It should be clear that these creatures are so unusual from a biological point of view that they are considered to a completely new kingdom, separating them from both animals and plants. Majority forest mushrooms – impossible to tame and domesticate, they are extremely difficult to raise and research.
They choose their own nutritious bedding and always decide for themselves when to germinate. Methods of nutrition, growth, reproduction and reproduction, energy use- mushrooms have completely different characteristics than other animals. They have no chlorophyll and do not use the sun's energy. They digest food, but do it outside their bodies. If the soil is the stomach of the planet, then mushrooms produce digestive juices.
They are capable of decomposing and digesting absolutely everything. They contain enormous amounts of energy. They break asphalt, they glow in the dark, they are capable of processing gigantic amounts of petroleum products in just one night and turning them into a nutritious and edible delicacy.
The mysterious mushroom Coprinopsis atramentaria can grow a nutritious fruiting body in just a few hours and then, within one day, turn into a small puddle of black ink.
Hallucinogenic mushrooms change the highly developed consciousness of people. Their energy is something completely and completely different.
Mycelium – the oldest organ The fungal kingdom is the most complex infrastructure on which all plants on the planet are located and live. A person's foot can contain about half a million kilometers of closely spaced fungal webs.
In the early 1990s, experts began to speculate that this network infrastructure carried not only nutrients and chemical elements, but is a very smart and self-learning communication system. This is the Internet underground.
Experts have absolutely reasoned arguments that the most ancient giant representatives Prototaxites– could also form thread infrastructures underground.
Modern research shows that modern mushrooms have a network of threads that even graphically resembles the Internet. The network is highly branched, If one of its parts suddenly fails, it very quickly replaced by additional workarounds. System nodes that are located in strategic areas are much better supplied with nutrients due to less active areas, and are constantly enlarged.
Spider webs have sensitivity, and each web is capable of transmitting information to the entire network and in all directions. The network infrastructure itself can develop and grow indefinitely.
There is no "central server". Each part is completely independent. Moreover, the underground network decides for herself when to grow mushrooms. Sometimes the reason is threat for the infrastructure itself. If forest feeding the network, destroyed (burns out or washed away by flood), i.e. Sugar stops coming from tree roots, then the network in its most remote areas– throws out (germinates) mushrooms so that they dispel spores, survived and found a new place to live. This is exactly what happens after the rain. Streams of water wash away organic rot from the ground, and the power supply to the network decreases, in this case the network sends reconnaissance teams to search for a new refuge.
Moreover, the method of distribution itself, tireless search for a new home, is another thing that distinguishes fungi from the animal and plant kingdoms. Some species of modern fungi have developed cruel methods of spreading. Thai zombie mushroom Ophiocordyceps unilateralis – absolutely suppresses the volitional efforts of the ants that feed on them. The fungus causes ants to climb onto the leaves of some plants. The distance that infected ants travel is simply gigantic. The ants get to the leaves and die from fatigue and hunger, and after a few weeks, mushrooms grow from the bodies of these ants.
Scientists are amazed, “these mushrooms produce a chemical reagent similar to LSD. But science doesn’t know of drugs that cause behavior that suits someone’s interests.” Experts have identified mushrooms that control the brains of spiders, lice and even flies. Is not natural selection and cannot be a side effect of another process. “The insect is sent against its will to where it shouldn’t be, but the mushrooms really like it.”
However, mushrooms are sources of miracle cures. Reason – they live in the dirtiest places, in dampness, in heat, that is, where microbes and viruses multiply in incredible quantities. Plants have no protection against these microbes, and mushrooms resist.
Mushrooms can turn mountains of waste into blooming gardens, full of life and sunny beauty. They clean rivers of toxic waste. Absolutely all problems with planetary pollution can be solved with the help of the mushroom kingdom.
Toshiyuki says: “The intelligence of a mushroom is in its network. It creates a kind of decision-making system. These creatures existed for hundreds of millions of years in the most difficult conditions. Multiply that by thousands various types and as a result you will get something that is very likely to be very, very smart.”
From time to time information appears in the media that the most big mushroom in the world a new record holder among such creatures. According to biologists, the huge parameters of the new finds are a natural phenomenon and are not a sign of any anomaly. These representatives of a special form of life, which combine characteristics characteristic of plants and animals, can grow to enormous sizes if favorable conditions are created for them.
Scientists find it surprising that many of the giant mushrooms discovered are edible. It is amazing that these giants were able to survive and grow to impressive sizes, despite the efforts of many mushroom pickers and the love of animals to feast on fresh mushrooms.
In the Oregon forests located in the United States, biologists were able to discover a fungus that is striking in its size. True, the terrestrial part of this record holder cannot surprise – Armillaria ostoyae fits in the palm of your hand. We know these mushrooms as honey mushrooms. Scientists were really surprised by the size of the mycelium, which is impressive with its parameters:
- the area occupied by the rhizome of the fungus is 880 hectares;
- Mycelium can cover about 1,665 football fields;
- the age of formation of the fungal root system is 2500 years;
- the estimated weight of the mycelium is more than 600 kg.
Biologists, after conducting research, have established that the discovered Armillaria ostoyae is not only the largest among other mushrooms, but also the greatest living creature on the planet. Even the roots of some centuries-old trees were destroyed by the mycelium of this giant.
In 2010, a huge tree fungus, Phellinus ellipsoideus, was discovered in China. In about 20 years, it managed to reach a height of 10.85 m. The width of its cap reaches 88 cm. Scientists managed to discover it while studying various tree mushrooms on Hainan Island. The giant grew underground, which prevented it from being discovered earlier. According to a rough estimate by biologists, the weight of Phellinus ellipsoideus reaches 500 kg.
In 2005, a Mexican biologist in the United States found a macrocybe mushroom that grew between coffee trees and weighed 28 kg. Two years later, another macrocybe of impressive size was discovered on a coffee plantation in Mexico. The giant, found in 2007, towered 70 cm above the ground. Its weight was 20 kg. Now scientists are trying to determine whether coffee trees a positive effect on mushrooms, which promotes their rapid growth.
Christian Terren discovered a raincoat in the forest that was amazing in its size. This mushroom was found in Canada. A raincoat weighing 26 kg was first encountered in this country. It was discovered by chance and immediately hit the pages of newspapers. Thanks to its hidden location and favorable weather conditions the mushroom was able to reach colossal sizes.
Biologists still cannot determine the type of mushroom found in the Yunnan province of China. This amazing creature had one leg and a lot of small caps that merged into one top. The diameter of such an unusual cap reached 1 m. The macromycete weighed 15 kg.
The real giant was discovered in the Italian province of Baria. A resident of one of the villages near his home came across a huge champignon. The weight of the find reached 14 kg. A thorough examination showed that this giant is quite edible. The champignon was taken home by a lucky mushroom picker and cooked. There were enough dishes from it to arrange a small feast for the inhabitants of the house and their neighbors.
Another record holder was a huge raincoat, weighing 12 kg. This giant mushroom was found in the Perm region. But, according to biologists, larger raincoats are also found in Russia. According to unconfirmed reports, micromycetes were identified, the weight of which reached 20 kg. The found mushroom was taken to Perm University for study.
A place of honor among the most large mushrooms the varnished tinder fungus also gets it. Residents of the small Chinese town of Hezhou managed to discover the giant. The Chinese call this mushroom lingzhi. It has been used for more than 2000 years in alternative medicine for the preparation of healing potions. The weight of the find was 7.5 kg, and the diameter of this giant reached 107 cm.
Another mushroom of significant size was discovered in Russia. A huge boletus was found by a resident of the Tomsk region. The hat of the discovered giant reached 36 cm in diameter. The stem of the mushroom rose 28 cm above the ground. The mushroom was edible and not damaged by worms. Weighing showed that the found giant weighs 2.4 kg.
After the rainy season, a young girl from England managed to discover a huge raincoat. The diameter of the giant was 46 cm, and its weight was 2 kg. For rainy England, such huge mushrooms are not at all uncommon. True, they rarely grow to such sizes. Often forest animals feast on them or they end up in the baskets of mushroom pickers.
If you ask people, then to the question “What is the largest creature on Earth,” almost everyone will answer that it is a blue whale. Some scientists even claim this. But they are only partially right. Yes, the blue whale is a large animal.
But most great creature living on earth is a mushroom. Moreover, it has been on the planet for several thousand years.
In fact, mushrooms are amazing creatures nature. They differ from animals in physiology and the inability to move independently, but from plants in that they do not take energy and carbon from carbon dioxide and sunlight. Moreover, mushrooms typically contain chitin, which is found in invertebrates.
Today, people know about one hundred thousand mushrooms, and some of them bring a lot of benefits to humanity. Here we should not forget about antibiotics and penicillin. Well, besides medicine, mushrooms are used as food.
Almost all mushrooms grow in the form of a community of cells, which gathers into a thread of mycelium. And when they grow into a plant, they can develop a pressure of 800 tons per square meter. And these same mushroom threads play the role of the mouth and stomach of mushrooms. They release enzymes that break down potential food into components and eat the nutrients. It turns out that mushrooms grow inside the food they eat. By the way, when you cut a mushroom above the ground, a whole mycelium remains underneath it.
Meanwhile, desperate nerds and the most sophisticated gourmets are in shock. The size to which mushrooms can grow can be so impressive that no questions arise after what you see. It is unknown what factors can provoke the growth of fungi to unimaginable sizes. But it is clear that such anomalies are extremely rare; at least, only a few cases are known today.
Mushroom monster
For the first time, the general public learned about the giant Armillaria mushrooms only on April 2, 1992. One of the record holders ended up on the front page of the most popular newspaper, the New York Times. The publication described the discovery, according to reports, the interweaving of underground threads and above-ground mushrooms covered as many as 15 hectares of land. And all this was a single whole, which experts were able to prove. 
In the same year, another giant mushroom of the same species was found. It occupied a space of approximately 6 square kilometers. But even he was not the real record holder.
The largest mushroom on the planet grew in national park Mahler, Oregon, in the Blue Mountains. “Mushroom” covered an area of 890 hectares, which is approximately 1220 football fields. Scientists even calculated how long it took him to grow so huge. It turns out that the mushroom is at least 2400 years old. It belongs to the species Armilaria ostoyae, and is also known as a honey mushroom. However, you definitely cannot make soup from such a record holder, since it is inedible. On the surface, the mushroom leaves only dead trees and small mushrooms, the rest is underground.
“This is a single organism that begins its growth as a microscopic spore and then spreads like a plant,” say experts, “and if we could remove the bud and look at everything that remains, we would see a large single pile of one mushroom with all the threads mycelium."
Giant mushrooms
Here's the biggest one edible mushroom found by a certain Jean Guy Richard in Canada. In his basket was a unique raincoat (Calvatia gigantean). And he was truly gigantic. The mushroom weighed exactly 22 kilograms and was 2.64 meters in circumference. 
However, the Mexicans are truly lucky. In the summer of 2007, a mushroom weighing approximately 20 kilograms and more than 60 centimeters long was found on coffee plantations in the state of Chiaps in southeastern Mexico. It is noteworthy that he grew right among the coffee trees.
Another edible record holder, which was found in Italy, weighed 14 kilograms. It was discovered by Francesco Quito in the province of Bari. And it was champignon. To bring such a find home, the mushroom picker had to look for a car.
Well, the previous giant mushroom turned out to be a truffle. True, he weighed a little less than his predecessors, only 7 kilograms. And the most interesting thing is that the people who found the mushroom did not find anything better than to fry their find and eat it with their neighbors. And this is taking into account the fact that mushrooms in Italy are valued quite expensively, so the forest miracle could be sold profitably.
Another natural miracle met in the forests of Switzerland. Interesting fact, the huge mushroom turned out to be a simple mushroom. Scientists were truly amazed by its size, because no one had ever suspected that mushrooms such as honey mushrooms could become giants. And in fact, the size of the mushroom can inspire respect. Its length is 800 meters and its width is about half a kilometer. Its size covered 35 hectares. In principle, his age is not small, according to the most conservative estimates, one thousand years. Half a ton
The largest mushroom in the world
In 2011, there were reports that scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Hainan Island discovered a mushroom weighing approximately 402-516 kilograms. Since then it has been called the most big mushroom on the planet. Yu Cheng Dai and his colleagues made the discovery completely by accident. The company went on an expedition with one goal - to study representatives of the mushroom kingdom as a whole, they were especially interested in those that, of course, are found in the forests of their native island. 
The mushroom was assigned to the species Fomitiporia ellipsoidea, and his age was estimated at 20 years. Over the years, he managed to grow almost 11 centimeters in length, 88 centimeters in width and 5 centimeters in thickness. The mushroom has an unprecedented volume - 409-535 thousand cubic centimeters. However, three years earlier, also in China, but on another island of Fujian, similar huge mushrooms were discovered, although they were very different in size from their counterpart from Hainan.
Mushrooms are a separate class of amazing living organisms. But the largest plant is algae. According to the website, the largest plant in the world is Posidonia.
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Kira Stoletova
Mushrooms are unique organisms that combine the characteristics of flora and fauna. They differ from plants in that they produce oxygen from carbon dioxide, and from animals in their ability to move and physiological characteristics. The largest mushrooms are admired by people all over the world.
general information
Today, humans know more than one hundred thousand species of organisms. A certain percentage of them bring a lot of benefits to a person. Therefore, in all corners of the planet - in the USA and Russia, in Australia and Brazil - the edible mushroom is the basis of a variety of dishes. The product is used in the following areas:
- Food sector. Winemaking, production of fermented milk products, bakery and confectionery products.
- Medical industry. Penicillin is produced from mushrooms. as well as other medications and antibiotics.
They are partially used in veterinary medicine as medicine, and also as raw materials for the production of medicines.
Unique characteristics
Giant mushrooms, like all others, grow as a collection of cells that gather into a thread of mycelium.
Once this system matures, it creates a pressure of 700-750 tons per 1 m². In mushrooms, threads perform the function of the gastrointestinal tract. In the body of mushrooms there are special enzymes - enzymes - which they release to break down food and consume necessary substances.
Top giant mushrooms
Biologists note that detecting a huge mushroom is not so difficult.
Some representatives reach large sizes thanks only good conditions development. Facilities mass media actively popularize this topic. Therefore, lists have appeared that unite the largest mushrooms in the world:
- 10th place is taken by the mushroom, which is clearly not the largest when compared with the others, but in the UK it is a clear favorite. He was found by a young girl gardening. Plant weight – 2 kg, cap – 46 cm in diameter.
- 9th place – Boletus. It was discovered in Russia in the Tomsk region. The boletus mushroom is a contender for the title of largest edible mushroom. It is distinguished not only by its cap with a diameter of 36 cm and a weight of 2.4 kg, but also by its color. This organism, found in Russia, has a brown stem and cap.
- 8th place – Lingzhi. In Russia and the CIS countries it is known as Lacquered Tinder. The largest mushroom in China is Lingzhi. Its weight: 7.5 kg, the cap measures 1 m 7 cm. Lingzhi are unique in that they are actively used in folk medicine. These organisms contain polysaccharides. They increase the dynamism of blood cells, thereby increasing immunity levels.
- 7th place – Russian Raincoat. He was found by a resident Perm region. This is a large mushroom with a cap diameter of 172 cm, a stem of 50 cm and a weight of 12 kg. This type of mushroom is suitable for consumption, so it was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest edible mushroom in the world.
- 6th place - Italian Champignon, found in the province of Baria. Its weight is 14 kg. The finder could not carry it in his hands, so he had to use a car to take the find with a large hat to the village. The champignon turned out to be edible.
- 5th place – Chinese macromycete. Another representative that surprises with its parameters. It is distinguished by its non-standard shape and size. The diameter of the cap is approximately 100 cm, weight is 15 kg. Scientists have not yet been able to classify it, but it rightfully takes its place on the list of the largest mushrooms in the world.
- 4th place – titanium macromycete. These huge mushrooms are known for their unique characteristics. Two such specimens were discovered in the USA, claiming to be the largest mushroom on the planet. The first was found in 2005 in one of the coffee fields. He weighed 28 kg. The second candidate was found in 2007, his weight was 20 kg, his leg height was 70 cm.
- 3rd place – Canadian macromycete. It, like other representatives of this species, is distinguished by its enormous size. Raincoat huge size and weighing 26 kg was found in the forest. This surprised people so much that they called the mushroom the largest on earth.
- 2nd place – Chinese Fomitiporia ellipsoidea. A plant of enormous size was found on the island. Hainan. The hat is 88 cm in diameter, height – 10.8 m, weight – 5 kg. There are few plants on earth that can compare with it. The volume was 400-525 cm³. The peculiarity of this organism is that it develops not outside, but underground.
- 1st place is rightfully occupied by the largest mushroom in the world, native to the forests of the USA. This living organism belongs to the Armilaria family, whose representatives are distinguished by their impressive parameters. Most of it was outside human vision. Armillaria ostoyae are macromycetes that are also known as Honey Mushrooms. The mycelium is a single organism. It occupied an area of 880 hectares in Oregon Park. Armillaria ostoyae webs have grown over an area equivalent to almost 1,700 football fields, so given organism deservedly called the largest mushroom on the planet.
The largest living organism on the planet October 12th, 2015
This is a MUSHROOM, or rather, the mycelium of the honey fungus (Armillaria ostoyae), which develops in the Malur forest reserve in American state Oregon. The mycelium of this living creature covers an area of more than 880 hectares, and its age is estimated at 2.4 thousand years.
The largest living organism on the planet is sometimes called the Oregon monster or honey mushroom monster, and not at all because of its gigantic size. The fact is that giant mycelium, entangling the roots of trees, causes the death of the latter. And many of the trees in the reserve have already become victims of huge mycelium. By the way, thanks to mass death trees and managed to identify the giant.
Attracted by the history of the death of trees, biologists in 1998 were able to determine that the honey fungus mycelium from Oregon is not individual clusters growing throughout the forest, but a gigantic, integral living organism.
Previously, the largest living creature in the world was considered the mycelium of the dark honey fungus, growing in Washington state. Its size was estimated at 600 hectares.
It is possible that there are larger myceliums on our planet, the existence of which is still unknown to scientists.
Here is the story of its discovery:
The find was reported in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. "The fact that an organism like this has grown in a forest for thousands of years really broadens our view of the forest ecosystem and how it works," said Dr. Katherine Parks, a pathologist at the US Department of Agriculture who conducted the study.
Researchers discovered this giant mushroom in the Malheur National Park, which covers an area of 590,000 hectares and consists of high mountain fields, pine forests and mountain lakes. This territory lies at an altitude of 1200-2750 meters above sea level.
A single organism is so big size has led to new understandings of the role of fungi in forest ecology. It was previously believed that mushrooms similar to honey mushrooms grew in groups within the forest, visible from the air as ring zones of dead trees.
But when researchers collected samples of mushrooms from an area of 9.65 square kilometers throughout the Oregon forest, they were tested to be the same mushroom. Scientists have estimated its age to be between 2,000 and 8,500 years old.
"This is a single organism that started growing as a microscopic spore and then spread like a plant," Parks said. “If we could remove all the soil and look at what was left, we would only see one big pile of a single mushroom with all its mycelial filaments that permeate all the soil below the surface.”
Researchers now believe that the fungus is part of a natural cycle of tree regeneration and decline within forests and that it is often present in areas with little tree damage.
Our forestry We should also think about this problem, since honey mushrooms grow throughout our entire region of Russia. Apparently, the principle of distribution of all honey mushrooms is the same, regardless of their type and habitat area. So, when we go into the forest and collect honey mushrooms, perhaps we put the fruiting bodies of the same mushroom in our basket.
But there are other options:
"Pando" is a clonal colony of aspen poplar (USA, Utah). As scientists have established, 47 thousand stems come from one once living poplar. All 47 thousand stems have a single root system and can be called a single organism whose mass is 6 thousand tons. The age of "Pando" is 80 thousand years (according to some estimates - up to a million years), which makes it one of the main candidates for the title of the longest-lived organism on the planet.
Clonal colony- this is a group of genetically identical individuals (plants, fungi, bacteria) that grew up in one place and reproduced vegetatively and not sexually. In plants, an individual of such a population is called a ramet. In mushrooms, individuals develop from a common mycelium hidden in the soil. Clonal colonies are common in many plant species. Although some of them reproduce sexually through seeds, reproduction can occur in some cases through underground stolons and rhizomes. Above ground, these plants appear to be separate individuals, so clonal colonies are not always easy to recognize.
It is assumed that most life Pando grew up in ideal conditions: Frequent fires prevented its main competitor, the conifers, from colonizing the area, and climate change from humid to semi-arid prevented the spread of seedlings and attendant competition from young poplars.
During severe fires, the organism survived thanks to the root system, throwing out new shoots on the ashes. Due to his age, Pando was born in a climate significantly different from today, and probably flourished in last time about ten thousand years ago, according to an OECD report:
Clonal groups of P. tremuloides are very common in eastern North America, but typically occupy no more than 0.1 ha, while groups as large as 80 ha have been observed in Utah (Kemperman and Barnes 1976). Some claim that seedlings have not spread in the western United States since the last glaciation, about 10,000 years ago (Einspahr and Winton 1976, McDonough 1985). In fact, some biologists believe that the western lineages may be as old as 1 million years (Barnes 1966, 1975). A single clone, nicknamed "Pando" (Latin for "I spread"), was said to occupy 43 hectares, contain over 47,000 shoots and weigh over 6 million kg, being the largest known organism (Grant et al. 1992, Mitton and Grant 1996) .
The clone covers 43 hectares (107 acres) and has approximately 47,000 stems that die and renew themselves from its roots. The trunks are connected to each other by a root system. Average age Pando's trunk (or more precisely, shoot) is 130 years old, as became clear from the tree rings.
<…>Compared to Pando, who lived according to the most common estimate of 80,000 years, according to the most accepted point of view among anthropologists, Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Eurasia and Oceania only 40,000 years ago, and to the Americas 10,000 years ago.”
Another candidate for the title of the longest-lived and largest clonal organism on Earth is a colony of Posidonia oceanica south of the island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea. Clonal colony of Posidonia oceanica, 8 km in size. in diameter can be up to 100 thousand years old.
sources
http://www.nat-geo.ru/fact/41372-gigant-iz-oregona/
http://newsland.com/news/detail/id/1101406/
http://www.wolfnight.ru/forum/forum_theme.php?theme=1654&page=1
http://www.factroom.ru/facts/1461
Something else GREAT for you: here it is, and here it is The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -
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